


The Unexpected Guest

by snorklepie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff and Smut, M/M, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, Minor Angst, POV Remus Lupin, but mainly fluff, there will definitely be shennanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 04:02:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9801782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snorklepie/pseuds/snorklepie
Summary: Remus Lupin is expecting to spend another quiet summer holiday alone at his parent's seaside cottage in Yorkshire. Sirius Black may have other plans.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DoubleNegative](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoubleNegative/gifts).



> This is a fic that I wrote for the very kind DoubleNegative, who bid on this fic in the Fandom Trumps Hate Auction, a particularly brave act seeing as how this is the first time I've written anything in the Potterverse. Hope you enjoy it, and as always comments and shares are very welcome!

The sound of the sea was a constant at Ravenscar, a distant rumble and crash that became a soothing white noise after a while. The cries of seagulls could be heard from the earliest pre-dawn hours and well after dark; stark, high and shrill. During the long summer holidays, Remus spent a lot of time lying in the long grass on the cliffs near his parents’ cottage, feeling the breeze on his face and listening to the birds and the waves. He was always glad to return to Hogwarts each September, but a part of him always missed the taste of sea air and the sounds of the coast. It was a remote, dreamy sort of place where nothing really happened at all. He supposed that was why his parents chose Ravenscar, and the rambling cottage on the narrow peninsula. They had wanted a place which harboured no bad memories. 

It was nearing suppertime when Remus hoisted himself upright, and began gathering up his discarded books. The sun was inching slowly towards the horizon, steeping the sky in shades of gold and pink over the endless darkening water. As he got slowly to his feet he could spy fishing boats making their way towards the harbour at Whitby, their lights bobbing as they dipped through the waves. 

Despite his growing appetite, Remus would have rather liked to stay there on the cliff to watch the sinking sun and the pinpricks of stars appearing in the sky. He knew that his mother would already be peering out the kitchen window, though; scanning the garden and headland beyond for his return. He began to amble slowly up the rocky slope, weaving aimlessly around clumps of sea-pinks and stunted shrubs as he went. His skin on his face, bare legs and forearms felt warm and a little tight; no doubt he would need some potion for sunburn before bed. 

It wasn’t until he was nearing the weathered white wooden gate to the garden that he heard a sudden, sharp bang and a flurry of movement in the low rosemary hedge. Instantly, he plunged his hand into the pocket of his shorts, pulling out his wand and staring around for a trace of the intruder who had tried to breach the cottage wards. 

His heart was pounding wildly right up until the moment he heard a rather familiar voice moaning “OuchbuggerFUCK!”

“Padfoot? That you?” he stepped closer to the (now rather flattened) rosemary that bordered the garden fence and suppressed a grin. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“Getting sodding hit by what feels like a triple strength security hex combined with a stinging jinx, Merlin’s bloody PANTS!” The air over the shrubs rippled as a disillusionment charm was lifted, and Sirius Black was revealed, pushing his dishevelled hair out of his grey eyes and staring up at Remus with extreme indignation. “Bloody hell, Moony! Is rural Yorkshire expecting some kind of savage muggle invasion that I don’t know about?”

“Doesn’t do that to Muggles.” Remus pointed out, putting down his books on the grass and holding out a hand to help his friend up. “Only unannounced or concealed wizards and magical creatures. Muggles merely get a terrible sense that they’ve left an electrical appliance on at home. What were you doing with a disillusionment charm on, anyway? You don’t need to sneak in to my place, you can just ring the bell on the fence like anyone else.” He nodded towards the old brass ships bell that hung next to the garden gate. 

Sirius grimaced and let Remus haul him to his feet. The dark green robes he wore were smoking slightly along the shoulders and hem, and his annoyed face was streaked here and there with soot. He glared up at Remus, briefly looking even more irked. “You got taller, you utter bastard!”

“Nice to see you too, Padfoot.” Remus said drily, and held out his arms. Sirius’ glare dissolved into an oddly relieved grin and he stepped forward into the hug, grabbing hold of the back of his faded t-shirt and holding on tight. 

“Damn it’s good to see you.” Sirius muttered into his shoulder. “Sorry. I- I should’ve sent an owl but I needed to get out of there.”

“Ah.” Remus nodded, looking over his friend’s shoulder at the shrunken school trunk and discarded broom that currently lay squashing his mother’s nasturtiums. “I see.”

Sirius’ chest hitched briefly against his, before he stepped back again. He stared at the ground for a long moment before meeting Remus’ gaze again. “They’re just so- so fucking awful. It just gets worse every time I go back there. Mother keeps on wanting to introduce me to her awful friend’s daughters. Says I’m just going through an awkward phase. And Father keeps telling Reg to learn from my mistakes, to make sure he doesn’t disappoint the family like his big brother. Final straw was this afternoon, when my rotten aunts came for tea and they all sat around talking about how things would be so much better when the muggle-borns were rounded up and were taught their rightful place. I- um. Might have lost it a bit. They might be digging the second-best china out of the ceiling for a while yet. Mother locked me in my room and told me I wasn’t going to be allowed out for a week. I managed to break the incarceration spell after a bit of trial and error, grabbed my stuff and did a swift spot of disillusionment so I could get my broom out of the downstairs cloakroom and out of the house. And… here I am, I suppose.”

“Probably wisest, doing a runner.” Remus agreed mildly. He was a little nonplussed at Sirius’ sudden arrival, but was nevertheless extremely pleased to see him again. “I thought you were going to stay at James’ place for a while over the hols though, like last year?”

“I was, but the total idiot decided to came down with dragon pox a couple of days ago. Mrs. Potter owled me yesterday, madly apologetic but saying that they couldn’t put me up this time.” 

Remus’ stomach twisted slightly at this. It had never occurred to him to invite Sirius to stay for the holidays, no matter how much he would have liked to. Sirius was a good friend, one of the best; but Remus always felt that Sirius and James were just a fraction closer. That was why Sirius always went to stay at the Potters place in Devon during the holidays. And maybe Remus had felt a little bit wistful now and again during his peaceful solitary summers in Ravenscar, thinking about the two of them larking about the West Country together. He had gone and stayed with Peter once, the previous year. But it had just felt a little odd with just the two of them, and they had struggled to find enough to talk about after a couple of days. He had felt guiltily relieved when the weekend was over and he went home; all the while berating himself for not properly appreciating Peter as a friend. The sight of Sirius standing outside their rambling cottage, incongruous in his stylish London robes, filled him with a kind of quiet joy. 

“Come on, then.” He elbowed Sirius gently in the side before picking up his books and the discarded broom. “Supper will be nearly ready. I just hope you like fish. Dad’s been catching mackerel off the rocks.”

“Moony, I would cheerfully eat a scabby Grindylow right now.” Sirius assured him, clapping him on the back. “And I’d probably ask for seconds.”

***  
Remus murmured the password for the back door and pushed it open. “Mum?”

“Sweetheart, there you are!” came his mother’s voice from the kitchen. The faint edge of concern was subtle, but it was still there; causing his heart to ache briefly. 

“Mum, Sirius is here!” he called, wanting to break the news as swiftly as possible. “He’s going to stay here for a bit, okay?”

He knew that the way he phrased it didn’t really leave much room for asking permission. He knew his parents were unlikely to turn Sirius away, but he still wasn’t willing to risk them saying no.

“What?” he could hear his mother’s rapid footsteps on the stone flagged floor, making her way into the slightly cluttered hallway. Her slightly worn face was a little anxious as she appeared at the low doorway. “Oh, goodness! Sirius Black, isn’t it? Remus’ friend from Hogwarts?”

“That’s me!” Sirius confirmed, adopting his most charming expression and stepping forwards to shake her hand. “I’m most terribly sorry for dropping in unannounced, Mrs. Lupin. Please forgive me.”

Remus wanted to kick him slightly for the wide-eyed schoolboy act, but the charm offensive seemed to be working. His mother seemed to relax a little, and smiled as she took his hand. “You’re very welcome, Sirius. It’s lovely of you to come and visit. Please, call me Hope. Goodness, you’re a little singed round the edges, are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m fine! Fine! Nothing a quick _scourgify_ won’t fix.” He assured her airily. 

“Well if you’re sure, dear.” She cast a slightly curious gaze at the trunk that lay on the floor next to the door, but clearly chose not to mention it. “The bathroom is just through that door over there. Why don’t you pop along and sort yourself out, while Remus helps me lay the table? Supper will be ready in five minutes.”

“Super!” Sirius beamed, and duly popped along. Remus tried not to roll his eyes. He had never, not once in several years of knowing Sirius, even once heard him use the word ‘super’ unless it had prefixed a phrase such as ‘-ultra-mega-fucking-AMAZING!!’. 

“He seems like a very nice boy, sweetheart. I wish we’d had a little more warning, though…” 

Remus grabbed another blue and white china plate from the dresser and nudged his own place setting a little further along the side of the scarred wooden table. “Sorry, mum. Um. Do you remember I told you a bit about his family? They’re not terribly keen on him at the moment, you see.”

“Oh no, they didn’t throw him out, did they?!” His mother asked, in the middle of summoning some extra cutlery from a drawer near the massive old sink. Her face was creased with concern.

“Er… not _exactly._ ” Remus hedged, deciding it was best for everyone concerned that crockery embedded in drawing-room ceilings wasn’t mentioned. “But I think they could probably do with a bit of space from each other at the moment. It’s just that apparently James’ come down with Dragon Pox and he doesn’t really have anywhere else to go.”

“Oh goodness, how very sad.” She sighed, and added another glass to the fourth place setting at the table. “If that’s the case, he had better stay. But he needs to know about the wards, sweetheart, understand? He’s got to understand that they’re important.”

“’Course, Mum.” Remus nodded, and leant briefly against her as she wrapped her arm around his waist. He dropped a kiss on the top of her faded brown hair, and patted her arm. “I’ll make sure he knows.”

“Oh, here’s your father!” Hope exclaimed, catching sight of Mr. Lupin’s figure through the French windows that led into the kitchen garden. She gave Remus a last squeeze and let go. “I just hope he brought enough tomatoes…”

***  
Unexpected company was not a common or indeed a particularly welcome occurrence at the Lupins, but overall the evening seemed to go quite well. Remus’ father didn’t tell Sirius to call him Lyall straight away, but once he got over his surprise he shook hands with him civilly and told him to sit down. Over a dinner of fresh mackerel, salad and new potatoes from the cottage garden Sirius seemed to relax as well, no longer quite so obviously using his party manners. He devoured everything that was put in front of him, practically inhaling three bowlfuls of raspberry fool for dessert. 

After Remus and Sirius had cleared the table (Sirius manfully pretending that he did this sort of manual labour every day), the boys headed upstairs to stow the trunk in the spare room. The room was long and low, with leaded windows and uneven wooden floors like the rest of the house. Remus looked around the whitewashed walls, the well-made but old furniture and the distinct lack of tapestries or gilt-framed oil paintings. The bed with its slightly tarnished brass frame was high and narrow, covered in a patchwork quilt his father had pieced together over winter evenings. A collection of mismatched old blue glass bottles found on the beach were lined up along the windowsill, next to a chipped jug of scarlet geraniums. 

He had always liked this house, the irregular sloping walls and the low window-seats overlooking garden and sea. Hardly anyone other than he and his parents had spent any time inside it, though; and he suddenly wondered what it looked like to somebody else. Somebody who had always had house elves to make their bed and who probably had never eaten dinner at the kitchen table in their life. Sirius was looking around with interest, kicking off his shoes before coming and standing next to Remus at the window. The moon was creeping up over the horizon, causing a familiar prickle to run down Remus’ back. 

“There’s a whole eleven days left till full moon.” Sirius pointed out, kneeling up on the cushioned window-seat and reaching for the catch of the casement. 

“I _know_.” Remus said quietly, then added: “You need a charm for that. _Karaga_.” He took out his wand and performed it, letting the window swing open. “Just remember to lock it again before you go to bed, won’t you? My parents are a bit picky about that sort of thing.”

Sirius cast him a sidelong glance, his chin resting on his folded arms on the windowsill. Remus steeled himself for the inevitable question, but thankfully it didn’t come. He sat down next to Sirius, and wrapped his arms around his knees, leaning back against the window-frame. 

“It’s nice here,” Sirius said, after a moment. “Peaceful.”

“Bit more basic than you’re used to, I reckon.” Remus pointed out, inspecting his sunburnt knees. 

Sirius snorted. “Sod that. My house is a bloody mausoleum. It’s full of rotten old portraits of my complete gits of ancestors and they tell me off _all the time._ ” he inhaled the gentle sea breeze that was rippling the faded curtains and smiled a little, glancing over at Remus. “Your parents think I’m a bit mad, don’t they? What have you told them about me?”

“’Course they don’t!” Remus protested. “It’s just… it’s just they’ve never actually met any friends of mine before.”

Sirius frowned, his thick dark brows wrinkling in surprise. “What?”

Remus quietly cursed himself, and shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage. He looked out the window at the darkening outlines of the apple trees, and murmured. “Well… it’s just that before Hogwarts, I didn’t really… I mean, I couldn’t, could I? Word got round, back in our old village. Nobody wanted their kids to play with me, and who could blame them? We moved here a couple of years after I was… after it happened. There’s no wizarding families round here, it was one of the reasons we chose Ravenscar. I had a hard time keeping my magic under control and treatment for my condition wasn’t all that advanced back then. So hanging around with muggle kids wasn’t really an option.”

“You mean to say you’d never- that we were-? “ Sirius asked, quietly shocked.

“Yeah. Bit of a baptism of fire, to be honest.” Remus half-grinned, catching his eye. He didn’t want Sirius to pity him, not any more than he already did. “Never been around other kids, then stuck in a dormitory with you and Wormy and Prongs. Didn’t quite know what hit me. Thought I’d be in Ravenclaw for sure, a few nice studious dorm-mates, lots of quiet reading in bed. Not you lot, with the shouting and the fighting and the exploding pillow fights on the first night.”

“I’ll have you know that was a kindly ice-breaking exercise,” Sirius said defensively. “Designed to set you at your ease!”

“Yeah, sure!” Remus laughed incredulously. “You set my bloody bed alight!”

“That’s what all the nice young men say.” Sirius informed him, batting his eyelashes. 

“Oh, _shut up_!” Remus snorted, fighting both his laughter and his instinctive blush. “Shut up right now. Come on, close the window and we’ll go play some chess.”


End file.
